When talking of entertainment in days gone by one cannot help draw comparison
with what is available today. With modern sophisticated tastes, entertainment
which held us captivated in past years seems lacklustre and simple while
sporting developments such as the windsurfer, jet-ski, and mountain bike
enable greater than ever use of our increasing leisure time.

One highlight of the past, on a visit to Rothesay, was a trip around the
bay in a small rowing or motor boat or up to the Kyles in the 'Gay Queen'
and 'Maid of Bute.' Some ventured further afield on one of the many day
trips on paddle and turbine steamers. These days the PS Waverley is the
last seagoing paddle steamer in the world.

The Pavilion Ballroom, completed in 1938, took centre stage and hosted thousands
of servicemen during the war, its famous sprung dance floor bouncing to
twelve hundred dancers or more of an evening. Today the Pavilion hosts pop
and rock concerts as well as discos and the big island festivals such as
jazz and folk.

The Winter Garden, which opened in 1924, became a popular venue and headlined
all the big stars of their day. Rothesay boasted four 'picture houses' one
of which seated nearly one thousand people. Now we have a multi-use cinema
at the Winter Garden which caters admirably for movie fans as well as providing
a mini stage for live performances. Within the original auditorium a new
centre has been created which includes a multimedia Tourist Information
and Orientation Centre.

This new 'Orientation Centre' entertains and instructs people today while
looking at their past.

Anne Shaw
Annie was born a Brandane into the Currie household and can take her family association with the island back a couple of hundred years.